I’ve gotten myself out of the habit of revisiting old WordPress prompts, but this one caught my eye today, and I had to respond.
In previous attempts at this prompt, I’ve talked about words that I felt were overused in general. Today I’m going to turn that focus toward a word that I overuse and would like to stop using so much.
I would give up the word “actually”. It’s not a filler word – like but, um or you know – but I feel like I use it way too much. You know that you personally use a word too much when you annoy yourself with it. I can’t imagine what people think when they hear me say it all the time.
I think I started using the word “actually” in second or third grade. I’m assuming I started using to excuse I thought it made me sound smart. But then as time went on, and I understood the meaning of it, it became a part of my everyday vocabulary. My problem now, as is the problem with most people who overuse a word, is that I’m just comfortable with it.
Have you notice that I’ve gone out of my to not say “actually” too much in this post?
Doing a little research for this topic, I didn’t realize that so many other people had an issue with this word. In fact, THIS 2012 piece in The Atlantic that called actually “the worst word in the world”.
I try, at times, to replace the word “actually” with “technically,” but I think that makes me sound like even more of a pretentious douche when I say that. Maybe I can just insert the occasional “Well..” or a “Yeah, but…”
Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, 👍 comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related (and perhaps, not-so-related) posts:
- Rob’s Retro Movie Review: This is Spinal Tap (1984) – The Movie That Scaled to Eleven
- A Death in the Family (And My Disposable Income): My Life in Comics
- The Supporting Cast: Navigating the Eras of Male Friendship
- Life is What Happens: A Look Back at My Non-Existent 2025 Vision
- The Moment I Walked Inside a Hallmark Movie
AI art created with ChatGPT.
The article “A word I need to stop using” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.
Designed with WordPress
Rebuilding Rob 
Leave a comment